Shopping App Wish Raises $50 Million

Wish, a social shopping site and mobile application, raised $50 million in new funding in a round led by Founders Fund, with participation from existing investors Formation 8, GGV Capital, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, Legend Capital and others. In April, the company announced $19 million in funding from the same investors, minus Founders Fund. However, that round actually happened in November 2013.

Launched by former Google, Yahoo and Facebook employees Peter Szulczewski and Danny Zhang, Wish uses algorithms and machine-learning technology to adapt to a user’s tastes in order to show them products they like in a highly visual format, similar to Pinterest. But while Pinterest has only more recently been exploring how a user’s likes and interests can be programmed into a more personalized experience, this data-driven shopping experience has been Wish’s focus from day one.

Today, the company reports 31 million active users, as well as 10,000 merchants using its platform to sell their goods, which includes a 15 percent transaction fee.

The Wish mobile app is fairly popular, too, according to data from App Annie, which shows it regularly finding a place in the Top 200 Overall on the iTunes App Store, and often in the top 10 or 20 in the Lifestyle section. On Android, it’s a top 10 shopping app, and also in the Top 200 Overall.

As we noted in April, Wish has been focusing more recently on the value shopper and on retailers from sites like Alibaba (also a GGV investment), allowing them to connect with a Western mobile audience. At the time, Szulczewski said that around half of Wish’s market was evenly divided between Europe and North America.

The new funding values the company at $400 million, The WSJ reports. Wish tells us it has raised $80 million to date.